Palouse Capital Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,153 shares of the social networking company’s stock after selling 78 shares during the quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Meta Platforms were worth $1,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in META. Keystone Wealth Services LLC increased its position in Meta Platforms by 25.3% during the 1st quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC now owns 1,624 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $789,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. Central Valley Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.1% during the first quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 5,817 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $2,825,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Meta Platforms by 345.5% in the 1st quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 51,430 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $24,973,000 after acquiring an additional 39,885 shares during the period. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Meta Platforms in the 1st quarter valued at $4,539,000. Finally, Factory Mutual Insurance Co. lifted its stake in shares of Meta Platforms by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Factory Mutual Insurance Co. now owns 330,590 shares of the social networking company’s stock worth $160,528,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

META has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $600.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Meta Platforms from $643.00 to $811.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Meta Platforms from $560.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Meta Platforms from $530.00 to $600.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, thirty-five have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $619.20.

Meta Platforms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:META opened at $582.01 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.48 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. Meta Platforms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $279.40 and a fifty-two week high of $602.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $547.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $509.22.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The social networking company reported $5.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.46. The firm had revenue of $39.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.26 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 34.34% and a return on equity of 34.16%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 21.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Meta Platforms Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Meta Platforms news, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total value of $239,808.45. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,456,828. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jennifer Newstead sold 901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.15, for a total transaction of $406,486.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,034,122.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Javier Olivan sold 413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $580.65, for a total transaction of $239,808.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,120 shares in the company, valued at $6,456,828. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 250,324 shares of company stock worth $132,218,368. 13.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.